Veni, Vidi, Scripsi

November in Review

The site remains… basically unchanged after three years. I change the header now and again and things on the side bar come and go, but the look remains about the same.

Every time WordPress.com introduces a new template, I try it out with the test version of the blog (not available to the public) and decide to stick with the current template. Only once have I actually changed the template, and that only lasted a 20 minutes or so.

Does that mean this is the best template ever, that the others all suck, or that I have a very specific vision for the blog?

I have been tempted to look into some of the places where you can essentially put out an RFP for a blog design, but that would require me to be able to articulate a vision for the site. Haven’t quite gotten there yet. (Plus they appear to have upped the price since I last looked.)

WordPress.com did introduce a new feature that allows people to subscribe to the blog via email. You can get an immediate, daily, or weekly email with the posts from the blog. I have been testing it out and am not sure if I like it or not. If you use an ancient, text-biased email program like I do (Eudora 6.2) then the content looks like crap and you get no pictures. If you use web based email, it looks okay, though the formatting can still slip, though at least you still get the screen shots.

This is perhaps an indication that I have a specific vision for how things should be presented. But then RSS readers muck up the content too, so I probably shouldn’t worry. If this email feature is of interest to you, let me know.

In EVE Online, the Quantum Rise expansion was available, granting those of us in New Eden certificates, among other things.

While it wasn’t out yet, Turbine was warming people up for the Mines of Moria expansion for Lord of the Rings Online. It sounded great. I just haven’t been there yet to confirm it. At least I got the T-shirt… erm… the cloak.

And then there was a little thing called Wrath of the Lich King. Yeah, that. Sort of a big deal for some, setting sales records and all that.

Finally, I was keeping the nostalgia ball rolling with a look back at how information used to be regarded back in the days of MUDs, a notable MUD NPC, and a hazy recollection of a GEnie game called Stellar Warrior.

New Linking Sites

The following sites have been kind enough to link here. Please take a moment to visit them in return!

lego deathknight
[Don’t you have to be a certain level or buy an expansion for that?]

Dungeons and Dragons Online

We had set out to scout DDO to see if that might be the next game for the Saturday night group. Certainly it has much to recommend it, including being free to play. However, we ended up staying in WoW on the horde side and having fun, so DDO has fallen off the radar for now.

It is an interesting game and I do want to go back and get a better feel for it. As has been noted elsewhere, the combat does feel a bit fast, almost Torchlight fast at times for me. On the other hand, I’ve played so little of the game so far, making the pronouncement that combat is too fast in DDO would be like be getting to Elwynn Forest in WoW and declaring raiding is too easy.

Anyway, DDO is off the active list for now.

EVE Online

Gaff has been back in EVE so we have been chatting about the game some. I’ve gotten out a run a couple of missions and started minding the store a bit more on the market front. But other than that, I have been pretty quiet on EVE, living it vicariously by talking to Gaff and reading EVE Monkey.

Of course, we have Dominion coming along… um… tomorrow. Lots of new stuff, though I have to figure out what might apply to me. If nothing else, I’ll have some screen shot missions to undertake to document the upgraded planet and star field graphics.

I did notice that, if I canceled my EVE account during the current billing cycle, it would lapse on February 2nd.

Could that be a sign?

Finally, side question of the month: Is Ryan Verniere visible when they show the Atlanta office in that CCP HTFU – Permaband video?

Star Trek Online

The buzz is starting. I am torn between averting my eyes to keep everything fresh for day one and devouring all possible content about it. It is supposed to go live on February 2nd… unless Jack Emmert sees his shadow, in which case there will be six more weeks of beta.

Torchlight

Finally got it patched to the updated version. Direct2Drive clearly wasn’t ready for the patch to be a new installer. They simply replaced the old installer in your accounts download page without bothering to indicate that there was anything new. Same name. Same date. Same everything.

It took a couple of passes through their support team to get the right answer out of them. Again, the front line just saw the word “patch” and sent me to the patch page where I had already indicated was lacking in Torchlight updates. Ah well, worse things happen at sea.

Since then I have blasted through the game with my vanquisher, literally, wielding a pair of pistols that make things go dead in the night. I have been back since with my destroyer and have toyed with making an alchemist, but after one pass through I’m not so enthusiastic.

Well worth the $20 all the same, and I am waiting for some good mods to come along to spice things up.

World of Warcraft

We thought we would be moving on to something else, but we’re still having fun playing in Azeroth, so why mess with a good thing? It still suits our play budget and going with a new set of classes on the horde side on a PvP server has changed up just enough that we don’t feel like we’re on the exact same ride in Blizzard’s theme park.

Wii

With the arrival of Rockband 2 there has been a resurgence of activity on the Wii, and not just with small plastic play guitars. We’re actually gotten out Mario Party 8, Pokemon Battle Revolution, and the LEGO games. Console games have their time and place.

Coming Up

More WoW. There will always be more WoW it seems.

But it is also December, which usually means a month of nostalgia and reflection.

I have already activated Station Access so I can go revisit EverQuest, EverQuest II, and Pirates of the Burning Sea. I think I am almost done patching them at this point!

I also need to go back and look at predictions I made for 2009, remind myself what else happened this year, and think about what may come in 2010.